I suppose I should offer something to compare and contrast. How about Anna Netrebko with the same music? I hear no wobbling/scratching/choking from her.

Anna Netrebko is one of my favourites. So is Elīna Garanča. In my opinion their best singing was when they performed together. *shrug* but I would say that given that it should be apparent that I like sopranos (in all their forms seeing as Garanča is actually a mezzo-soprano)

In a web page begging for money, Skepticon gave an run down of how deep in debt they are, both for their conference (which is going on right now) and for their legal fees for that law suit by Carrier. Archived link below, but here the summary of their legal situation:

It's unclear if they paid for other legal bills with funds they raised in the past, but at least now, they are net deficit of nearly $28K, and they are expecting another bill to arrive shortly to add to that deficit.

The first part of the post outlines the finances of the conference. The TL;DR version: total conference cost estimated at a bit over $30K, but still short almost $11K.

Well there you go, American justice system at its finest. Of course there will be those who will say he was guilty as sin and deserved his fate: beaten up in jail, unmonitored for suicide. But what a bunch of fucking boneheads. The same system allows the unjustly accused kill themselves in despair. Justice systems should at least be competent enough to deliver their defendants to trial.

Well there you go, American justice system at its finest. Of course there will be those who will say he was guilty as sin and deserved his fate: beaten up in jail, unmonitored for suicide. But what a bunch of fucking boneheads. The same system allows the unjustly accused kill themselves in despair. Justice systems should at least be competent enough to deliver their defendants to trial.

And the conspiracy machine is already in maximum overdrive. Unsuprisingly.

I'm no fan of conspiracy theories, but when a suicide seems awfully convenient for a lot of wealthy and influential people...well, it's a test, for sure.

Well there you go, American justice system at its finest. Of course there will be those who will say he was guilty as sin and deserved his fate: beaten up in jail, unmonitored for suicide. But what a bunch of fucking boneheads. The same system allows the unjustly accused kill themselves in despair. Justice systems should at least be competent enough to deliver their defendants to trial.

Suicide watch in American jails appears to be lacking.

I guess it is just another in the long list of people with dirt on the Clintons who do the decent thing and die.

Well there you go, American justice system at its finest. Of course there will be those who will say he was guilty as sin and deserved his fate: beaten up in jail, unmonitored for suicide. But what a bunch of fucking boneheads. The same system allows the unjustly accused kill themselves in despair. Justice systems should at least be competent enough to deliver their defendants to trial.

And the conspiracy machine is already in maximum overdrive. Unsuprisingly.

I'm no fan of conspiracy theories, but when a suicide seems awfully convenient for a lot of wealthy and influential people...well, it's a test, for sure.

And when the suicider is in a jail and is on 24 hour suicide watch after 'attempting' suicide......

Recent mass shooters, despite their variety of political views, share an apocalyptic view of mankind's effect on the environment.

Are they attracted to End Of The World environmentalism because it matches their grim worldview?

Or is the their grim worldview partially a product of environmentalist doomsayers?

I'm inclined to think it's more the former... but all-this talk about whose rhetoric pushed the shooters to kill... means that eco/green hyperbole
belongs on the blame list-- alongside all the other partisan propaganda issues.

=
The week of shootings & subsequent wave of news media opinions-- was a bummer for me. I couldn't put my finger on why.

Then, last night, I had an unpleasant dream. In-which I encountered my ex-wife on a crowded sidewalk & she tried to walk away from me.
I told her to stop, because I wanted explanations for how she behaved when she left me. Such as: why she had agreed to cooperate in sharing access to our dog, and at-first kept her promise, but-later she would randomly deny me access without warning or explanation?

I woke in the dark & the meaning of the dream was clear. It was about-how... when I had lost nearly-everything... and adjusted my expectations downward to accept the change-for-the-worse... she (without protest from family, friends, society, the cops) had taken-away the one last thing which was sustaining me. It was that last 1% of loss, not the previous 99%, which really shredded me.

And that's why the recent shootings demoralized me. I impose my own narrative on them: I assume the shooters had some 'last straw' which made them feel all is truly lost. I lack the shooters' desire to strike back at the humanity-in-general with a murderous outburst... but not for lack of fuel for such a fire, if I were so-inclined. Like I said-- family, friends, society, the cops-- were all happily negligent accomplices, as I tumbled downward in life. Plenty of people to blame, if I were just a tiny bit less self-aware that I'm as-responsible for my own problems, as any factor outside myself.

Yesterday the local news channel ran a story about a local event for gamers. Video games, roleplaying games, boardgames, neckbeards, fat chicks with unnatural hair colors. A version of Monopoly flashed on screen, apparently called Inequality-opoly.

The event was founded, years-ago, by friends of mine. They had wanted to open a geek-friendly bar, where adults could drink & socialize, & play games. That never happened, but they did organize an online forum for meet-ups, like "We're going to the 7pm showing of Avengers tomorrow, meet us on the steps at Union Square at 6:30 & we'll drink somewhere afterward". They would also rent conference-room spaces for events, like mini-conventions, which is what the news report was about.

But, as far as I know, my cofounder-friends are no longer involved. They were pretty politically correct. And when an SJW-wave washed-over their scene-- they welcomed & accommodated it... but eventually found themselves so overwhelmed with the preposterous demands of the SJWS (on a par with Atheism Plus, or The Orbit)... that they had to walk away from the scene they had founded.

Back then, I thought of myself as compatible with freaky gender politics-- because my friends were dragqueen clubkids on cocaine. I thought I was a feminist of the pro-sex variety, because my friends were Barnard-grad dancer chicks & burlesque chicks. I had plenty of libertarian ideas, too... and didn't see a contradiction. When the SJWs came to the rpg scene... I thought I'd be a slightly-edgy contrarian/ but still in good-standing because I had read all the SJW literature-- black power stuff, judith butler, lesbian zines, pomo. Nope-- I was The Patriarchy. Rape Culture personified. Institutional White Power. My initial involvement with the Slymepit wasn't because I was active in Atheist or Sceptic scenes before the Schism... it was because I could only push-back against the rpg-scene SJWs a certain amount-- without being un-personned by the Appeasers-- who would be forced to stop playing games & socializing with me... lest they become guilty-of-association with me. So I jumped-sideways the gamebaord-- into the pit... where I didn't have the same exposure to real-world retaliation.

=

One person on the 'other side' was this midwestern feminist chic. She was pretty cool... she liked making & wearing elaborate fetish costumes for halloween & nightclubbing & kink-community events. She liked fucked-up japanese drawings of little cartoon girls being sexually tortured. She was a big feminist and polyamory advocate and 'we need more women in gaming' person... but she seemed to understand that she might be the Next One on the chopping block... after all the toxic heterosexual white (fat, virgin, mom's basement) males... were purged from the scene.

After seeing the news report yesterday, I googled her name. Her 'women in gaming' group's webpage is an ad for steroids now... so I assume they didn't have the spoons to carry on. Her social media seems mostly concerned with her garden. And she has amassed an impressive publishing history of games she designed or drew art-for or whatever.

Buuuut... the first game-related thing I clicked-on... was a post from this year... in-which she denounced a straight white male gamer/troll/dood...
who has apparently been me-tooed. I'll call him "Z".

So this guy Z... He was an assistant to a famous nyc artist I know. Z moved to LA & made his own porn-themed art, and made alternative porn with a cluster of grubby suicide-girl types. He had a blog about his ongoing Dungeons & Dragons game with pornstars as players. Z made a really cool 'module' for D&D... a book of maps & monsters & adventures... all in a weird imaginary city. His book won every game-design award. Z was endlessly on social media-- being a stereotypical snarky asshole. Like a Hunter S Thompson or Justicar or Milo or such. But in the realm of role-playing games. Like he'd respond to feminist's blubbering about the 'impossible' tits on a comic book character or game book cover... with a photo of his pornstar girlfriend's non-fake tits... preposterous but real.

Game nerds thought Z & I were closer than we really were. I don't know if we ever met IRL. And only a few encounters online. But SJWs assume we met to strategise, every full moon in some underground troll klavern. I sorta hated him. He's very LA & I don't like LA-people. Nobody's admiration of him matches his own self-regard. He would gladly turn on me, just to show what a kewl rebel his is-- if had ever expressed a gayass amount of admiration for him, online.

=

And, like I said, he got me-tooed. After 11 years, he & girlfriend split. She posted psychobitch shit on facebook, my kinky-feminist-friend denounced him too. All the people he "abused" by disagreeing with them about politics-- are happy to pretend he's a serial rapist. A subreddit devoted to 'old school' dungeons & dragons games-- has banned him, becauses Betas gonna Beta.

I find the facebook post against him to be full of amazing shit. Worth reading, if autopsy-ing such things is your cup of tea. He's accused of telling his girlfriend "chin up" to make her double-chin disappear. (He's a photographer & pornographer. was this abuse... or useful instructions to onscreen talent?) He's an out-of-the-closet cartoon of a foul-mouthed edgelord narcissist... who is now accused of acting like a cartoon of same. But after-the-fact, it's now a sex crime. His 3 accusers can't-help-but bake-in to their complaints-- all sorts of kooky victim-culture-psychobabble, about what a misogynist mk-ultra gaslighting mastermind Z is. Not just a nerd who got laid more than he expected-to, and played badboy for a few years, and blundered his way thru his 20's playing his assigned role in a defective relationship with a chick who uses a massive list of her health problems-- as a fainting couch.

Many years ago we somehow got hold of a privately-produced board game called Life On The Farm. It was sort of like monopoly but ... with farms. Cows were always getting loose, tractors were breaking down, futures prices tanked. By the end of the game, every player ended up deep in debt. That was the joke.

Over at WEIT there is a "Photos of Readers" post. The first one would have been interesting in the good old days, but now that everything has to be seen through an intersectional lens it seems to be the height of white supremecy. Let's face it, the renaissance was the era that launched colonialism, so playing European music from that era is the same as wearing shoes with the Betsy Ross 13-star flag (or something).

It will be interesting to see how many other readers are doing similar things. Maybe there should be an award for "most white" reader. :D

Service dogs are becoming more widely used (and misused) nationwide, and there is a shocking amount of pervasive misinformation about the legal, practical, and disability-related issues surrounding assistance animals. The workshop will aim to correct common misconceptions, educate about the legal bases of public access for service dog teams, and challenge ableist assumptions about those who use service dogs.
Colonnade E

An honest question for Merkins. Why is Gabbard getting so little support? While I disagree to a certain extent with her attitude toward military intervention, I think it is at least considered and probably amenable to argument. She is light years ahead of the Dem front-runners in terms of apparent honesty and integrity and willingness to engage people in dialogue. The mainstream media all appear to be aligned against her with their incessant dredging up of old smears. Is it as simple as the media being slaves to the military industrial supporting elite? Is it her refusing to play the intersectional anti-white game?

ThreeFlangedJavis wrote: ↑
An honest question for Merkins. Why is Gabbard getting so little support? While I disagree to a certain extent with her attitude toward military intervention, I think it is at least considered and probably amenable to argument. She is light years ahead of the Dem front-runners in terms of apparent honesty and integrity and willingness to engage people in dialogue. The mainstream media all appear to be aligned against her with their incessant dredging up of old smears. Is it as simple as the media being slaves to the military industrial supporting elite? Is it her refusing to play the intersectional anti-white game?

She’s slightly right of center on many key issues and to liberals, that makes her a Nazi. Libertarians, like Tucker Carlson, love her. She’s been on his show several times. That alone makes her persona non grata. To me, she seems to at least try to attack issues with common sense, which is rare in today’s politics and tends to upset people on both sides.

ThreeFlangedJavis wrote: ↑
An honest question for Merkins. Why is Gabbard getting so little support? While I disagree to a certain extent with her attitude toward military intervention, I think it is at least considered and probably amenable to argument. She is light years ahead of the Dem front-runners in terms of apparent honesty and integrity and willingness to engage people in dialogue. The mainstream media all appear to be aligned against her with their incessant dredging up of old smears. Is it as simple as the media being to the military industrial supporting elite? Is it her refusing to play the intersectional anti-white game?

I'm not Merkin but I have pretty much the same vantage point as one, plus in the 20 years I lived in the U.S. I took a much more avid interest in politics than most of the natives. So I'll take a shot at it. I think there are a couple of issues at play with regards to the media. Firstly she faces the same vicious circle all fringe-y candidates do, in that the media won't cover them seriously unless they have significant support in the polls, while voters won't support them unless they read good things in the media. I think this dynamic is a net benefit in an era when, thanks to the Obama-Trump one-two punch (but mostly Trump), the resume-building barriers to running for president are far lower than at any time in modern history. The other issue is that so many media outlets are unreservedly anti-Trump, and she's currently seen as someone who will not win but can damage the person who does, and thus help Trump. Her apparent honesty and integrity is not seen as a plus, but rather something that could override practical partisan motivations and cause her to intentionally damage the eventual nominee. The good news for her is that if she can figure out how to get her polling up to 8% or so, even if it's just in New Hampshire, she'll be taken more seriously by the media and this will trigger a virtuous cycle, where more media means more support which means more media. Also, if she's seen as a possible opponent for Trump rather than a gadfly, then the portion of the media who are DNC-operatives with press passes will focus on protecting her from damage, not protecting the 'real candidates' from damage from her. I'd still regard her as an extreme long shot, but I think she does have paths to victory.

ThreeFlangedJavis wrote: ↑
An honest question for Merkins. Why is Gabbard getting so little support? While I disagree to a certain extent with her attitude toward military intervention, I think it is at least considered and probably amenable to argument. She is light years ahead of the Dem front-runners in terms of apparent honesty and integrity and willingness to engage people in dialogue. The mainstream media all appear to be aligned against her with their incessant dredging up of old smears. Is it as simple as the media being slaves to the military industrial supporting elite? Is it her refusing to play the intersectional anti-white game?

A more cynical answer is that she doesn't have enough money to make her interesting to the media. The media want campaigns with large amounts of money, and they want them to spend that money on ads. The only other way is to make yourself interesting enough that you drive ratings (see Trump, Donald).

mordacious1 wrote: ↑
She’s slightly right of center on many key issues and to liberals, that makes her a Nazi. Libertarians, like Tucker Carlson, love her. She’s been on his show several times. That alone makes her persona non grata. To me, she seems to at least try to attack issues with common sense, which is rare in today’s politics and tends to upset people on both sides.

I'm not sure where the idea that she has many right of center positions comes from. On basically all major issues, she's emphatically progressive. Early in her political career when she was in her early 20's, she did hold anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage positions, but this was likely due to a religious upbringing and she has long since recanted. It's also true she has fans on the right, but I think this is largely due to a misguided application of the enemy of my enemy is my friend principle. She has also rejected being a racial identity warrior, which may be anti-progressive in the current atmosphere, but it's not right wing.

I also have to take issue with characterizing Tucker Carlson as a libertarian. He's taken some explicitly pro-nationalist, anti-libertarian positions in the past year, generally supporting government action to help and protect the existing working class. He's pretty much a villain in libertarian circles nowadays, at least on economic issues.

ThreeFlangedJavis wrote: ↑
An honest question for Merkins. Why is Gabbard getting so little support? While I disagree to a certain extent with her attitude toward military intervention, I think it is at least considered and probably amenable to argument. She is light years ahead of the Dem front-runners in terms of apparent honesty and integrity and willingness to engage people in dialogue. The mainstream media all appear to be aligned against her with their incessant dredging up of old smears. Is it as simple as the media being slaves to the military industrial supporting elite? Is it her refusing to play the intersectional anti-white game?

Cuz her poise, eloquence, straight-shooting, and refusal to play identity politics is a threat to the MSM's darlings with their socialism, white guilt, & open borders agenda. That suppurating cunt, Rachel Maddow, will never forgive Gabbard for saying antigay things as a teenager. To the regressive left, Gabbard, despite her fairly progressive views, is an SP who must be crushed.

Tulsi fucking knee-capped Kamala Harris, and it was awesome. If she makes it into the next debate, Lizzie Warren will be next.

Autistics LOVE being trans or non-gendered! The several "non-gendered" friends of my daughter's are all on the Austism spectrum. Most of her trans friends are also either autistic or suffer from very high levels of social anxiety with symptoms of family abuse and PTSD.

It's like all the young people who feel like they don't fit in eventually try to be a different gender.

When I was young I was depressed and bitter and angry with the world, but I never speculated that I was a woman..... maybe things would be different if all my teachers told me I might be a chick.

ThreeFlangedJavis wrote: ↑
An honest question for Merkins. Why is Gabbard getting so little support? While I disagree to a certain extent with her attitude toward military intervention, I think it is at least considered and probably amenable to argument. She is light years ahead of the Dem front-runners in terms of apparent honesty and integrity and willingness to engage people in dialogue. The mainstream media all appear to be aligned against her with their incessant dredging up of old smears. Is it as simple as the media being slaves to the military industrial supporting elite? Is it her refusing to play the intersectional anti-white game?

Cuz her poise, eloquence, straight-shooting, and refusal to play identity politics is a threat to the MSM's darlings with their socialism, white guilt, & open borders agenda. That suppurating cunt, Rachel Maddow, will never forgive Gabbard for saying antigay things as a teenager. To the regressive left, Gabbard, despite her fairly progressive views, is an SP who must be crushed.

Tulsi fucking knee-capped Kamala Harris, and it was awesome. If she makes it into the next debate, Lizzie Warren will be next.

I would consider voting for Tulsi. She is young and that is a worry to me, but she is really tough and presidential in my opinion. When my wife watched Joe Biden at the debate, and I pointed out he would probably win the nom., she put her head in her hands and said "I think I will not vote. " Haha. We both like Tulsi.

John D wrote: ↑
Autistics LOVE being trans or non-gendered! The several "non-gendered" friends of my daughter's are all on the Austism spectrum. Most of her trans friends are also either autistic or suffer from very high levels of social anxiety with symptoms of family abuse and PTSD.

Yes, because in addition to the usual homosexual and autoerotic types, I think there is a third type of person who decides that this is happening to them because they self-assess as being closer to the stereotypes of the other sex. While stereotypes tend to be somewhat accurate - they are a pretty poor guide to figuring out who you are. Most people have some characteristics which go sharply against stereotype.

I think there is a big problem if as soon as a kid starts asking questions about his/her sexual identity - a whole lot of the people surrounding him/her decide that it is their duty to be "affirming."

John D wrote: ↑
I would consider voting for Tulsi. She is young and that is a worry to me, but she is really tough and presidential in my opinion. When my wife watched Joe Biden at the debate, and I pointed out he would probably win the nom., she put her head in her hands and said "I think I will not vote. " Haha. We both like Tulsi.

I still like Sanders. Yeah, he's such an old shoe, but he still seems to be the only genuine contender. And he got screwed in the 2016 primary. Something tells me he'd be great for the country, I don't know why. He'd fill all the gaps created by Trump. Trump plus Sander equals some kind of superposition of sanity. Biden is horrible establishment, and too much a knee jerk SJW. Harris is a horrible ex-prosecutor. Gabbard is just just too ambitious, like a little pubescent Hillary Clinton. Also, the little toughy, "shipping out to go on active duty for a training exercise" shtick is truly annoying. Bitch, you're a politician now, not a girl scout.

Hunt wrote: ↑
I still like Sanders.... And he got screwed in the 2016 primary.

How, precisely, did he get screwed? Did the DNC allot some of his delegates to Hillary from a primary she didn't even run in? Did it only count half the delegates from a state he won? Did it turn a blind eye when Hillary bused in thousands of out-of-state voters to vote in the Iowa caucus? Did it break its own rules to make sure no floor vote was held at the convention?

Oh wait, never mind -- that was what the DNC did in 2008 for Obama.

Something tells me he'd be great for the country, I don't know why. He'd fill all the gaps created by Trump. Trump plus Sander equals some kind of superposition of sanity.

He's spent thirty years in the Senate, and has been the driving force behind exactly zero pieces of legislation. His policy proposals are unworkable pipe dreams. He's a full-blown socialist who truly believes in The Revolution. He's praised Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. He's an angry, grumpy old man with a short temper and no personal charisma or people skills. Bernie as POTUS would be a complete disaster.

John D wrote: ↑
I would consider voting for Tulsi. She is young and that is a worry to me, but she is really tough and presidential in my opinion. When my wife watched Joe Biden at the debate, and I pointed out he would probably win the nom., she put her head in her hands and said "I think I will not vote. " Haha. We both like Tulsi.

I still like Sanders. Yeah, he's such an old shoe, but he still seems to be the only genuine contender. And he got screwed in the 2016 primary. Something tells me he'd be great for the country, I don't know why. He'd fill all the gaps created by Trump. Trump plus Sander equals some kind of superposition of sanity. Biden is horrible establishment, and too much a knee jerk SJW. Harris is a horrible ex-prosecutor. Gabbard is just just too ambitious, like a little pubescent Hillary Clinton. Also, the little toughy, "shipping out to go on active duty for a training exercise" shtick is truly annoying. Bitch, you're a politician now, not a girl scout.

Today I'm working for that company Ocasio chased out of New York. 3 hour break in the middle of my day.
They're promoting back-to-school stuff for college students.
When the event is over, all the whimsical decor merchandise will be donated to charity, after event staff picks it over.
I already scored... a sweet guitar!...

It's a small event, just #influencers. They get drinks, a gift bag, a performance by some Amazon Music chick-- if you like 2019-style music-- oh man do I have a big steaming homogenous glob of it, for you...

Also performing is an Instagram-famous comedienne. I didn't check out her stuff... but apparently there was a bit of a kerfuffle-- when the world discovered her mother is Pamela Geller. As-in the Draw Muhammed Day shoot-em-up lady! All I wanted to do this evening is get-home & rest my feet for 3 hours & play that new guitar... but if Pamela Geller was on the guest-list, I'd have been tempted to stick around for the show. I'm surprised the company AOC and Elizabeth Warren loves-to-hate... the one Bernie sez "doesn't a pay a NICKEL" in taxes... would hire Geller's daughter for their event. Kinda cool that they didn't censor-themselves from doing so.

Speaking of SJW outrage & guilt by association...there's a Soul Cycle across the street from the event. I like that protest. Now I have a righteous excuse to yell 'fuck you' at people wearing Soul Cycle leggings & t-shirts.

My boss on this job is a very normal girl from down south. She's actually pretty gutsy, but she's mainstream-normie.
She was overflowing with excitement about this Chris Cuomo FREDO thing. Boss isn't the type to rant at work about politics or news-outrage.